November 5, 2015 (Thursday)
I woke up this morning with a song in my head. This seems to happen more often these days, but maybe I’m just paying better attention to my thoughts. The song? “All of Me.” The original version, written by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons in 1931, is a slow ballad, recorded by Frank Sinatra and most popular artists of the day, but the one that’s running around in my head is the jazz version, also recorded by Sinatra and others. The words everyone remembers are, “why not take all of me?” It is a promise of complete devotion.
As the lover in the song promises all of himself, the word, “all,” is reminding me of a Scripture selection and a familiar hymn.
The Scripture is the Hebrew Shema, part of which reads, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might,” which can be found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, and also in the gospels where Jesus says it is the greatest commandment.
The hymn is “I Surrender All,” which begins with the commitment, “All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.” Its words are a response to the call of Jesus to become His disciples, with hearts filled with love for Him. The hymn was written by Judson W. Van DeVenter (1855-1939), published in 1896.
Certain phrases make the rounds, becoming very popular in an era, and almost disappearing later. Such a phrase is “Total Commitment.” Once it was heard in almost any Baptist sermon on almost any given day. It’s not heard as much these days, because the emphasis of our time seems to be what God does for us instead of what we do for Him. I’m not complaining or accusing or confessing; I’m just saying “that’s the way it seems.” Perhaps we need a renewed emphasis upon total commitment to Christ, and maybe we need to take to heart the words of this great hymn (click on image to listen):
